Small stringing flow changes that made a big difference

Discussion in 'Badminton Stringing Techniques & Tools' started by kwun, Mar 29, 2018.

  1. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    I want to share some recent findings and thoughts regarding changes in my own stringing flow that made some noticeable difference.

    First of all, what difference? For me, the most important part of a stringjob is how it plays. I look for stringjob that provide a good and crisp repulsion. A flick of the wrist and the shuttle flies off.

    I am not really into making it into a piece of art, so whether the knots are beautiful, or whether we follow Yonex pattern to the dot without crossovers are not very relevant to me. One can tie a awesome looking knot with Yonex pattern and the result can still play like hitting the shuttle with a block of wood.

    I also believe that it doesn’t take a very unique stringing pattern to achieve great playability. I have tried a few stringjob that gave a huge WOW factor with just a Yonex pattern. At the same time, I have also tried ones with similar WOW factor with another pattern.

    In my opinion the key to getting great playability is the fine tuning of how the strings are tensioned. The interaction between all 43+ strings is what give the stringjob its good, or bad, feeling. The art and science of stringing is how to tension them optimally.

    I also believe that optimal tensioning has a lot of external factors to it, the machine being the major factor, also the technique of the stringer is another. I don’t consider the racket or the string to be a factor as those are usually constrained by the customer.

    In other words, with different machines, there are different ways to optimally tension a racket. Those who uses Yonex machines usually can get away with main=cross tension, while those who has 2 point support need to add a pound or two on the cross, for example.

    For my own machine, Gamma 6004, there are unique challenges. The end pillars are not very solid, but the side supports are. So I ended up having to compensate for those.

    I already believe before the changes, my stringjobs are quite good. Not the best as I have played with stringjobs that has a great WOW factors. Those are rare to try. I'd say mine was more than 90% there. These changes I did put it to at least 95%.

    So what did I change?

    3 things.
    • Firstly, I use same tension between main/cross. Which in my case as main=24lbs, cross=24lbs.
    • Secondly, I no longer reduce tension at the top 4 and bottom 4 cross string. In other words, I abandoned pseudo proportional stringings.
    • Thirdly, when I mounted the racket, I stretched the frame at 12/6 o’clock by around 3mm.
    Those are relatively minor changes. But they made noticeable difference in feel for the better.

    So why did I share this? My point is:
    • Recognize that at the end of the day, the playability is most important.
    • don’t listen to all the suggestions here blindly. Always experiment, trial and error, keep changing parameters and testing the results. Not all machines / stringers are the same.
     
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  2. Charlie-SWUK

    Charlie-SWUK Regular Member

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    Interesting points.

    This one's interesting because I've done this for a while now. When I mount the racket, I close the side supports just enough that it makes the racket level (so the it's resting on the bottom of the support, but the top isn't in contact). Then I fasten my 12 and 6 enough that the racket won't freely or easily slide up and down at the 6 o'clock position.

    I fully agree with no proportional stringing. Only place I do anything remotely close to it is double pulling the outside 2 mains, and first two crosses. But I also use my 'Clamp the first string, not both of them' method on those double pulls to ensure strings are tensioned well.

    I think pulling the strings down a little as they're tensioned helps too, just keeps them that bit straighter.

    I think another big factor is how you start your mains. If you double pull your centre mains, and then clamp them at the bottom, you lose a huge amount of tension right in the ideal place to hit. So far I haven't found a better method than:
    Double pull centre mains
    Clamp them both near the top
    Re-pull each main individually to ensure proper tension

    I also think that it's better when stringing to have zero drawback on your clamps than to clamp as close to the frame as possible. This makes an enormous difference to the crosses. You want the clamps in a very stable position. I would rather sacrifice 3mm, than watch my clamp draw back by 3mm. At least this way I know the correct tension is still going through the rest of that cross. It's hard to be as sure when you see the clamp pull back.
     
  3. flyingcords

    flyingcords Regular Member

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    What about extra tension for the knots ?
     
  4. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    I already tie it pretty hard. Once I pulled and broke the string so I try not to overdo it ever since. Some people use the machine to pull it, i cringe every time i see it.
     
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  5. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    it is possible to clamp close to the frame and also have zero setback.

    i need to make that video!
     
  6. Charlie-SWUK

    Charlie-SWUK Regular Member

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    I've tried even with giving the tower a push when it's clamped but not bolted, but I only have a PS3600. Probably not an issue for better machines.
     
  7. Fidget

    Fidget Regular Member

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    Great read. :)
    Every stringer hones their technique by their results. Because the result is what matters.

    But stretching the racket at 6 and 12 o'clock? I thought that was a huge no-no for structural integrity.
     
  8. Rob3rt

    Rob3rt Regular Member

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    A stringer once told me that he pulls the knot with 14 kg. I thought I misunderstood him and that he pulls 14 kg and then ties off. Do people really use the machine to pull the knot? Is that a thing? :confused:

    Do you use PS? I read in another thread that only prestretching the crosses may result in very equal tension due to the reduced friction and found it a quite interesting idea.
     
  9. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    my machine has weak 6/12 o'clock support. the 2 columns get compressed together after tensioning mains. stretching it is supposed to balance that out.
     
  10. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    I have seen some youtube video of ppl doing it with the machine. pretty scary.

    i PS both main and cross. PS only cross is effectively just adding tension on cross.
     
  11. yeelong

    yeelong New Member

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    Kwun, does PS matter much in the eventual feel of the racket? Or is it just to prevent tension loss?
     
  12. Charlie-SWUK

    Charlie-SWUK Regular Member

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    I found that even if you stretch the frame a little, it’ll revert back to its normal shape when you remove it from the machine.
     
  13. R20190

    R20190 Regular Member

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    Thanks Kwun, that's a good read and nice to know that other people are also doing some of the less orthodox things I already do.

    When clamping the racquet down, I tighten the 12/6 o'clock supports first and tend to stretch this slightly before applying the other supports. Also when I tension the top half of the crosses, I sometimes have to compensate by re-tightening the 2 and 10 o'clock supports to ensure the frame is supported before I tension the next cross.

    I find that I can achieve pretty good results from main=cross tensions and I have been leaning towards doing this on most of the restringing jobs I do to achieve even better consistency.

    I too have snapped a couple of strings whilst tensioning knots, so I am now very careful not to over do it.
     
  14. fanfaron

    fanfaron Regular Member

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    Thank you Kwun,

    Very interesting post. I have found something weird lately which I don't how I did it. I have strung a old black knight racket with that power channel gimmick. I used bg 65 string. I don't how I did it, but the shutter seems to fly of the racket very easily, and hitting the shutter was very easy. And the sound was in the high pitch like. Maybe that's the playability you are talking about. I don't remember bg65 gave me that feeling. That is why I switch over bg 80 because I found to be more powerful. Only thing that is different is that I switch parnell knot to Alan's knot(Gudgeon knot). For me it's Alan's knot since I learned it from his channel.

    I Wish I can repeat that, I change machine, I have a old ektelon crank and now have the prince 3000. 2 pts machine. I will take note of changes when stringing.

     
  15. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    That's exactly it.

    there are a few rackets in which I have had that feeling. some are my own, and some belong to others.

    A few of them are actually strung with BG65. BG65 isn't a bad string, esp if you string it at higher tensions. you really need 25+ lbs to make it feel good. professional players have sworn by BG65 for many years, but they all strung it at 30lbs. I have tried BG65 @ 30lbs, it felt good. but then I cannot tell if it is the stringer who is good or the string + tension combination.

    I feel that this feeling happens when a bunch of parameter lines up perfectly. string, tension, tensioning pattern, machine, etc. Once some parameter is off, then it falls off that optimal peak.

    A good stringer will be able to reproduce that consistently. Or at least pretty close.
     
  16. s_mair

    s_mair Regular Member

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    Very interesting thread indeed. And even more so, since there are a lot of things in the OP that I have implemented in my flow over time.

    My main goal was to reduce the possible failure sources to a minimum and thereby to do as little modifications as possible to the equipment during one job. Hence I also ended up quite early with a mains=cross ratio and no extra tension for the knots (thanks to AK for promoting that in his tutorial!).

    I also stretch the racket lengthwise a little bit when I mount it and also re-tighten the 6 o'clock support after pulling the first two mains. Put together, this sums up in a stretch of ~3 mm. The head comes out in prefect shape which is the most important thing for me there.

    Regarding patterns, I normally do a 1-piece Haribito variant of which I like the overall flow and the neat look on the outside of the frame. I just love it when there is as little string as possible running on the outside. Although I don't think that this makes a huge difference regarding playability and tension loss overall. If I had to do a higher number of jobs, I think I would also go to a basic Yonex 2-piece pattern since it takes a couple of minutes less to do. Mostly because there is less string to handle in the beginning.

    Another small thing I do for some time is to always mount the rackets with the same side up. So basically, I always mount them that the butt cap logo is in the right orientation. At first, this was an OCD thing only, but I feel like there is more to it than that. I noticed that I get less struggle with shared holes when stringing the racket repeatedly in the same orientation. And along with it, I got less crossovers on the outside of the frame without taking special care. It seems as if the grommets develop a certain memory how the strings pass them by creating paths for them.

    Personally, I'm very pleased with the feel and consistency of my own jobs, but it's hard to tell how much of that wow-factor they have. What I can tell is that they feel better than all the jobs I have played from the available stringers and shops around - but that was not very hard to achieve tbh. Most of the suck, plain and simple.

    I have played with only one job that definitely had that special something to it - it was a job done by Squash Eric on my newly purchased TK9000. It played great with that initial string job and I haven't been able to reproduce the same feeling again afterwards. Although I have sold the racket right after I started stringing and I think I have strung it only once myself. So if anyone plans to order a racket from Eric, I can highly recommend to order it strung!
     
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  17. Charlie-SWUK

    Charlie-SWUK Regular Member

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    Best feel I've had in a racket was with Paizhuan, but it's awkward to do, and more effective on 72 hole rackets.
     
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  18. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    Totally second Eric! Even though we get it a week later, the stringbed is one of the liveliest in feel and repulsion with the least tension loss. I don't know what magic dust he sprinkles on it...

    Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
     
  19. Rimano

    Rimano Regular Member

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    Here's a thought, but does anyone leave their newly Strung rackets for a week before playing with them?

    But I suppose you guys get your rackets Strung and imported from other online places too to compare with.

    Sent from my EVA-L09 using Tapatalk
     
  20. visor

    visor Regular Member

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    Not a week, but after a few days of allowing the string tension to settle into equilibrium, I find it very nice.

    Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
     

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